Oskarshamn 2 outage timeline extended

20 June 2014

Sweden's Oskarshamn 2 is expected to remain offline well into 2015 as the timetable for modernization work at the plant is extended by operator OKG. Delays to the program have had knock-on effects for a planned power uprate.

Oksarshamn 2 faces a second winter offline (Image: OKG)

Safety modernization work being carried out at the 638 MWe boiling water reactor (BWR) is the penultimate stage of a major SEK 8 billion ($1.2 billion) modernization program. The current phase of work involving electricity and control systems is described by OKG as the most extensive, and most important, in the whole program but has encountered delays thanks to the 'unique and sophisticated challenge' of recabling the facility. 'Safety and quality in implementation always has the highest priority,' said OKG, announcing its decision to extend the deadline for the work.

OKG cannot provide a planned restart date at present but it is currently anticipated to be some time during the summer of 2015, according to CEO Johan Svenningsson. 'It is however clear that the plant will be shut down in the coming winter, which we obviously regret,' Svenningsson said. Oskarshamn 2's current outage began on 1 June 2013.

Delays to the modernization program have had a knock-on effect for a planned 185 MWe power uprate at the plant. OKG announced in March that it had decided to postpone the uprate work to allow it to focus on the ongoing safety work. Now, the company says that it intends to implement the power increase during 2017, two years later than planned.

The staged modernization and uprate program at Oskarshamn 2 was initiated in 2004 and is expected to enable the reactor, which began operations in 1974, to operate at least until 2034.